berigora,
boobook and
boodang (... as well as
mouki)
Here's yet another Paper (even if a few years old, this time/one from 2016) by Mr Nash, all well worth the read, with some additional pieces, compared to his 2014 Paper (see post #1):
David Nash (2016). In the margins of some Australian dictionaries: exploring the etymology of
berigora. In
Language, land & song: Studies in honour of Luise Hercus, edited by Peter K. Austin, Harold Koch & Jane Simpson. London: EL Publishing. pp. 263-276 (
here)
As the Title indicate this Paper deals mainly with the origin and etymology of the Brown Falcon
Falco berigora Vigors & Horsfield (1827), a k a "Brown Hawk" (by Gould), and it sure does, in every thinkable, linguistic detail/angle, presumably originating in:
The best match I have found in vocabularies of Australian languages is biyaagaarr (Ash et al. 2003: 42) ‘Brown falcon’ in the Yuwaalayaay and Yuwaalaraay pair of languages, the same word (as beeargah ‘hawk’) for a ...
[Reference: Ash, Anna, John Giacon & Amanda Lissarrague. 2003. Gamilaraay, Yuwaalaraay & Yuwaalayaay dictionary. Alice Springs: Institute for Aboriginal Development Press.]
And onwards (via
biraanggaarr,
birrangga, ... etc., etc.), in the most minute detail regarding its origin (pp.265-271), incl. an even more thorough "Etymological discussion of
berigora", on pp.268-270), all in all ending up with the following Conclusion (on p.271):
Historical linguistic analysis has allowed the linking of the species name of Falco berigora with a ‘hawk’ character in Aboriginal legendary tales recorded in the 19th century. The word can be traced to the Sydney hinterland, but not to a particular language, most likely of the form birVgaarra or birVgaarr (where V is i or a).
The same Paper also (even if far more potted) deals with the following names, and their origin respectively:
• Southern/Australian Boobook (Owl)
Ninox boobook (Latham 1801), earlier a k a either "
boobokspökuggla" [sic] or "
Boobook-uggla" (in Swedish, thereby my particular interest):
"... presumably assisted by its onomatopœia; it was first recorded from "Bōkbōk ‘An owl’ in the vocabulary noted by Lieutenant William Dawes in 1790-91, the early English colony at Sydney ..."
[Reference: "Dawes, William & Anonymous. 2009. The notebooks of William Dawes on the Aboriginal languages of Sydney. London: SOAS.http://www. williamdawes.org."]
• Scarlet Robin (Muscicapa)
Petroica boodang (Lesson 1837):
"
The word behind the species of P. boodang was first recorded in the caption ‘Crimson-breasted Warbler, native name Bood-dang’ (Port Jackson Painter [between 1788 and 1797])."
[Reference: "Port Jackson Painter. [between 1788 and 1797]. ‘Crimson-breasted Warbler’, native name ‘Bood-dang’. First Fleet artwork collection. The Watling collection – no. 282. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/art-nature- imaging/collections/first-fleet/art-collection/collections.dsml?stype=colls &lastDisp=list&coll=watling&beginIndex=127."]
• Nash also made the following comment [more or less repeated, and in line with what he wrote in 2014] on
mouki (as in the Brown/Western Gerygone
Gerygone mouki, Mathews, 1912, and the invalid ssp.
Zonaeginthus/
Taeniopygia castanotis "
mouki", Mathews, 1912):
"No equivalent bird name has been found in any Australian language. Gregory Mathews (who, by the way, was the son of the prolific language recorder R.H. Mathews) did not comment on the origin of mouki, none of the many other names he bestowed were from an Australian language word, and he was known for commemorating local collectors in this way (Kendall 1912), marked by the Latin Genitive -i. His application of it in two distinct genera also indicates that mouki is unlikely to have been a word for a kind of bird, so I do not follow the suggestion that mouki originates from an Australian language, and I speculate that Mathews commemorated someone with the uncommon personal name Mouk."
Contrary to this comment, as we've seen countless times, Mathews equally/often named many toponyms in the same way; "marked by the Latin Genitive
-i.", thereby (in my mind) it could very well be an eponym,
but just as well a toponym (like Laurent pointed out in post #4). I choose to see Nash's comment (intention?) simply as excluding it as an autochthonym [
i.e. not originating in a/any local bird name, thus not from a/any native (aboriginal, Australian) language].
However, enjoy!
Björn
PS. The latter,
not to confuse with
Mouk Island (a k a
Mok Island,
Mok Mandrian), in the St Andrews Group/Islands, Manus Province, Bismarck Archipelago, North off (Papua) New Guinea (both birds were collected in Queensland, mainland Australia), and certainly
not with the little bear
Mouk, who travels the world on his bike (a French animated television series, that hardly makes it easier to search for the origin of
mouki)
PPS. James, I have already sent you a PDF copy (of the first-mentioned paper above).
